The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry - John Mark Comer:
Part 1 of the series "Unhurrying with a Rule of Life", as part of Practicing the Way. Dallas Willard once called hurry, “the great enemy of spiritual life in our day,” and said followers of Jesus (who was rarely, if ever, in a hurry) must “ruthlessly eliminate hurry.” In this teaching, we kick off our fall practice with the pyscho-spiritual case against hurry as incompatible with love, and touch on the ancient practice of a rule of life as a way to slow down to the speed of love.
Notes:
- Hurry is the devil
- "Hurry is not of the Devil, it is the Devil." (Carl Jung)
- Hurry is the pitfall of an unbelieving, unfaithful, ungodly nation
- You're busy if you:
- Change lanes at a stoplight if one lane has a shorter lane than the other that you're in
- Change lanes at a grocery store if one line has a shorter line than the other that you're in
- Multi-tasking
Types of busyness
- You truly have productive things to do - service, purposeful work
- FAR MORE COMMON BUSYNESS: pathological busyness
- Not a lot to do, but too much to do
- "Busy is the new stupid." (Bill Gates)
- 20k + person survey of Christian daily living:
- Christians are assimilating a culture of busyness, overload, and hurry
- God becoming more marginalized in Christian's lives
- Deteriorating relationship with God
- Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions on how to live
- More conforming to a culture of busyness, overload, and hurry
- Cycle repeats again
- Survey showed pastors and doctors were the worst with this.... wow.
- "We are more busy than bad. More distracted than non-spirtual. More interested in movies and shopping and the fantasy life they produce in us than church."
- Spiritual life is meant by = our capacity to receive and give love in relationship with God and others.
- Hurry is incapatable with love.
- Walking is 3 mph. Walking is the pace of Love. God's speed of love is 3 mph in a way then.
- There is a reason they call it "walking with God"
- Jesus was rarely, if ever, in a hurry
- Jesus in one word = relaxed, unhurried, present
- Many of Jesus' teachings are responses to interruptions. (that's true. wow)
- Jesus responded with compassion + love
- How you respond to an interruption shows who you are (C.S Lewis)
- Luke 10:25 - Rabbi asking Jesus how to inherit eternal life
- Deut 6 - Love the God with all your heart
- Lev 19 - Love your neighbor like yourself
- Samaritan story.... go and be like him [that Samaritan]
- Stop hurrying. Let God Love you. Meditate and contemplate on God’s Love. Be Loved by God to become people of Love. Soak in God’s Presence.
- You can’t schedule love. Ever. Not with your child, girlfriend, anyone.
- Hurry sabotages prayer
- To walk with Jesus is to walk with an unhurried pace
- The worst things come when hurried
- As John Wooden says, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”
- Love is not in a rush, is patient, is listening, is giving, and takes all the time that is necessary.
- Rule of Life (popularized by St. Benedict)
- “Set of practices and relational rhythms, both scheduled and spontaneous, that create space to receive and give Love. Receive Love from God, and give and receive Love to and from others.”
2 Things to do Going Forward:
- Pay attention to the speed at which you move. Observe relationships. Observe your body, as though meditating, without judgement.
- Practice slowing. That’s it. Put away devices for a day. Take a nap. Spirtual discipline of slowing. (Sabbath helps in doing this!)
- Place your mind and body in situations where you have to wait so God can transform you into a Being of compassion and Love.